Seventeen-year-old student Gad Harari had pitched himself at the front of the queue in a makeshift tent and claimed that he would not sell his spot for less than £1,000.

Talking about the new iPhone he spoke of its attraction and said: ‘I think it’s amazing. It’s cool, it’s new and it’s sci-fi.’

The two handsets were revealed last week much to the anticipation of the tech company’s worldwide followers.

Gad Harari,17, in his plastic greenhouse as he waits to buy the new iPhone in Regent Street, central London (Picture: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

The 5S comes in gold, silver or ‘space’ grey, while its other new functions include a fingerprint scanner.

However, many have had to walk away from stores this morning bitterly disappointed.

Shop workers had to walk down and give golden tickets to those in the queue, each with a unique number until they reached the maximum number of handsets the store actually had available.

The first customer proudly shows off his new iPhone 5S outside an Apple store in Wangfujing shopping district in Beijing, China today (Picture: AP)

Queues in Cardiff were so large this morning that one phone store sold out of its handsets five minutes before even opening its doors.

Twitter users have taken to the social media site to vent either their fury at losing out, their joy at obtaining one, or even simply bewilderment at the efforts some fans have gone to.

Mark Allman said: ‘#iPhone5S Crazy fool saying no to £500 for his place in the queue #crazyfool.’

An excited customer at the Apple store in Germany (Picture: AP)

A large queue forms outside the Apple shop in Covent Garden (Picture: PA)

In Liverpool, the phone seems to have gone already too: ‘Didn’t manage to get a device, but Apple staff kept everyone in the loop to avoid unnecessary waits,’ said Andrew Fong who had been in the queue at Liverpool One shopping centre.